Apparently this is your only experience with fruit trees in however long you have been at this, which presumably is while since you have employees that work out of your sight. Don't waste time or risk a bad reputation.

Refer the owner to this forum and let them manage the fruit trees themselves. It is fun and rewarding. People of all walks of life and income levels do it and participate here.

NO pruning should be done on the tree until spring, btw

It is hard to tell from the pictures, but it looks like all the fruiting spurs were removed... oops!

At a minimum, trees should be pruned to resolve conflict between branches competing for the same space. You don't want them rubbing the bark off of each other. Thinning is only critical if the tree will not be able to support the weight. You don't want branches breaking or trees toppling over. Aside from that, pruning is mostly for optimal production of high quality fruit. I have mature apple trees I rarely ever prune because the average fruit size is what I want and the trees are more than capable of supporting a full load. However, I always take the time to shape young trees in the first few years. Unfortunately, shaping a tree is an art that depends on a number factors that will not be the same for every situation. Thinning a tree already shaped is little more systematic and easy to teach.

The purpose of fruit trees is to bear fruit. Pruning removes fruiting wood. Prune judiciously because of it and stand by the maxim never make a cut without a reason. When in doubt leave it and see. I found a lot of spindly little crap on the trunk was fruiting wood the next year.

So now I don't remove anything except for size, damage, disease, waterspouts (scions), inappropriate growth or suckers.